Touching end for Choffel

The final game of Nicole Choffel’s soccer season ended with the talented striker in tears.
Only her cheeks were moist and eyes watery out of happiness amidst a wild celebration two years in the making.
Her last high school touch was a championship clinching one - a right-footed blast from the right flank 25 yards out that eluded the leaping grasp of Molloy keeper Christina Loccisano in the 19th minute of overtime. It gave Mary Louis their second NSGCHSAA Division A league crown in three years, 1-0 over Molloy, in extra time Monday afternoon at Alley Pond Park in Queens Village.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” the Hilltoppers’ Hofstra-bound leading scorer said. “Last high school game. We won. Against our bitter rivals.”
When Tracy Riley took over the program this year, she met with many of her new players individually. She recalled Choffel declaring her intent to cap her career off with another title.
“For her to get the winning goal,” Riley said, “was icing on the cake.”
Quite a dichotomy to the way last fall ended for Choffel and the Hilltoppers. At this time one year ago, they were dealing with an agonizing defeat to these Stanners in the semifinals on the very same field, a physical affair in which Choffel was carried off sobbing with a right ankle injury.
“It feels so good to beat Molloy, our biggest rivals,” said junior midfielder Kathy Gualotuna, easily one of the best players on the field. “So glad it was Molloy.”
The Hilltoppers (6-9-1) were due. Counting last year’s loss to the Stanners (7-5-3), Mary Louis was winless in their last three meetings against Molloy, with a tie and a 2-1 loss in two tilts this fall. But those two matches helped them get a plan of attack on the talented Loccisano, only a sophomore. Aggressive off her line, quick to anything out of the penalty area, and adept to shots low to the ground, she had trouble with high kicks.
Not surprisingly, Choffel’s goal was elevated with topspin. “If it was low, she would save it,” Choffel said. “So I shot high.”
As soon as Choffel intercepted Loccisano’s goal kick, she prepared to shoot. Choffel was unsure whether she had enough behind the shot. Gualotuna was at a difficult angle to decipher what the chances were. Riley, on the other hand, had no doubt from the moment the ball took flight.
“As it was in the air, I knew it was going right in,” Riley said. “You just knew it was going in, just the way the game was, just the season she had, and the four years that she’s given the school.”